Dr. Miller: You don't need one. First you don't have flu symptoms, and if you do have flu symptoms and you're not severely ill, we would just treat you empirically. Meaning, if you have symptoms, you have a high fever that starts suddenly, shakes, chills, cough, you basically would have the flu until proven otherwise during the middle of the flu season.
Interviewer: So you're saying that the flu for a physician is a pretty obvious thing to diagnose. You don't need a test.
Dr. Miller: Should be, but everybody loves a test Scott.
Interviewer: Okay.
Dr. Miller: Everybody loves the test.
Interviewer: They like to know for sure.
Dr. Miller: So we've talked before on the program about being treated for the flu. So there is a treatment, an antiviral that you can give, but you should give it within the first 48 hours. So if one obtains a test to prove whether you have the flu or not it might be longer than 48 hours before you get the test results back, while in the meantime you're feeling miserable.
Interviewer: Oh. Yeah, so I come into the doctor and they're like, "I'll give you the flu test, if you want it," and then by then it's too late.
Dr. Miller: The decision is made based on a clinical presentation, so looks like the flu, smells like the flu, it's probably the flu. And we go ahead and treat it. We start the treatment.